MAY 15, 191S 



399 



lit lie if any food will be discovered in their 

 " feed troiiijli." But 1 note that our ques- 

 tioner asks about a queen larva. Up to 

 about 60 hours old all larva) are treated 

 alike ns to tlieir food — that is, they have 

 before them all they can possibly eat, all 

 the while, and "enough is as good as a 

 feast." The larva in a queen-cell floats on 

 a " sea " of chyme. The larva in a worker- 

 cell floats on a " lake " of this same milky 

 food. But when they pass these hours, the 

 ■'sea," with the larva intended for a queen, 

 becomes an "ocean," while the "lake" of 

 the larva intended for a worker becomes 

 first a "pond," and then that dries up 

 altogether, a coarser substitute taking its 

 place. In other words, all fecundated eggs 

 give queen larva? to all intents and pur- 

 poses up to the lime such larvfe ai's 48 

 hours old, and the food given by the nurse 

 bees thereafter decides their fate. A 96- 

 hour-old larva can be changed over to a 

 partly developed queen, which will become 

 fertile and lay fertile eggs for from a few 

 weeks to a few months; but these are small 

 in size, and soon " play out " entirely. As a 

 matter of existence, such a queen will carry 

 along a colony so that, through her super- 

 sedure, the colony may go on to a fail- 

 prosperity again. 



As regards the further development of 

 the queen larva : It grows very rapidly from 

 now on, and at the end of about 51/2 days 

 after hatching it is about one fourth larger 

 and longer than is a worker larva when six 

 days old. At this age both are sealed over, 

 after which both commence to spin their 

 cocoons preparatory to the pupa or nymph 

 stage and the emerging of a perfected queen 

 or worker; but there is this difference — the 

 queen larva is fully developed in about 

 seven days, while it takes twelve after seal- 

 ing to perfect the worker, this time being 

 somewhat lengthened or shortened by the 

 temperature of the weather and the activity 

 of the colony. 



And now, Mr. Beginner, pardon just a 

 word: If you wish to reach the full statui'e 

 of an apiarist along all lines of our be- 

 loved pursuit, just take the time to go over 

 the whole ground in this matter yourself. 

 Get the A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture 

 spread out before you regarding this matter 

 of " from the egg to the perfect bee," and 

 prove by your own observation and experi- 

 ments whether the writers of the past have 

 found out all thei'e is to be known on this 

 subject. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



SWARM PREVENTION 



BY J. E. HAND 



G. M. Doolittle ingeniously likens the 

 swarming impulse of bees to a broody hen. 

 While agreeing that the similitude is per- 

 fect, I am not in sympathy with his method 

 of eliminating the broody condition. A 

 wide experience with poultrj' has taught me 

 that a pullet of a good laying strain will 

 seldom become broody during her first sea- 

 son, and an equally wide experience with 

 bees has taught me that queens are less in- 

 clined to broodiness and voluntary super- 

 sedure (which is the direct cause of swarm- 

 ing) during their first season. While this 

 trait in bee nature is not sufficiently devel- 

 oped to warrant depending upon ordinary 

 methods of supersedure for swarm preven- 

 tion, I have ascertained that a correct 

 method of queen supersedure is the more 

 safe and economical solution of the swarm- 

 ing problem. The question is, how shall we 

 prevent swarming with the least expense 

 for labor and equipment, the most impor- 

 tant factors in the economics of honey 

 production ? 



While the broody condition that usually 

 culminates in swarming is shared by bees 



and queens alike, we have found that the 

 remedy is more effective and much more 

 economically applied to the queen with as 

 little disturbance of the brood and bees as 

 possible. These are excessive manipulations 

 that multiply the cost of honey production. 

 We learned a long time ago that destroying 

 queen-cells to prevent sw^arming is equiva- 

 lent to shooing a broody hen off the nest to 

 prevent sitting, and that both are a waste 

 of time and energy, for the broody hen will 

 return to her nest, and the broody queen 

 and bees to their cjueen-cells. Dropping the 

 analogy relative to the hen, the question is, 

 " What is the more economical and practi- 

 cal method of eliminating this natural con- 

 dition of broodiness tliat usually results in 

 swarming? 



Shall we resort to the excessive manipu- 

 lation of hives and combs, removing brood 

 that will soon become bees, and peddling 

 them promiscuously about the apiary, all 

 of which excessive manipulations are in- 

 volved in the shake-swarm method advocat- 

 ed by Mr. Doolittle? or shall we practice 

 the equally laborious method of removing 



